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A Former Samsung Executive: Why Belarusian Women Stand Out
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There was “Night Flight,” located on Tverskaya Street in the heart of Moscow, Russia. In the 1990s and early 2000s, it was a legendary, top-tier business nightclub where executives of global corporations, diplomats, and prominent figures from political and business circles visiting Moscow gathered night after night.
The moment you passed through the tight security and opened its heavy doors, a glamorous world that seemed to belong to another dimension unfolded before your eyes. Under subtle, sophisticated lighting, amid the smoky scent of whisky and the thunderous music, hundreds of beautiful women—the kind one might expect to see only in fashion magazine spreads or on runways—were dancing spectacularly across the floor.
They were women of the highest caliber, with tall, slender figures, sculpted physiques, honey-blonde hair that reflected the light, and dazzlingly white, porcelain-like skin. Amid that overwhelming spectacle, whenever I quietly asked where they were from, the answer came back almost invariably, as though they had all agreed in advance.
“Belarus.”
Working across numerous countries on the global stage gave me many opportunities to meet strikingly beautiful women from all over the world, but the memories of Moscow nights remain especially vivid.
Also unforgettable was a classic yet sophisticated upscale club—a GENTLEMAN’S CLUB—in Vienna that I frequently visited with business partners. A Venezuelan woman I met there had both glamorous features and an intelligent air that instantly drew everyone’s attention.
As it turned out, she was a bank employee in Venezuela. She had taken a month-long summer vacation and traveled to Vienna, Europe’s cultural capital. During the day, she toured museums and historic sites, while at night she worked part-time at the bar to supplement her travel expenses.
Her boldness in being a polished financial professional by day and a glamorous part-time worker by night, combined with the passion and elegance characteristic of Latin America, made her beauty deeply memorable in itself.
The beauty of the wives of business partners whom I met at dinner gatherings in Central Asia, where Eastern and Western civilizations intersect, was equally distinctive. There was the mysterious, almost veiled beauty of a Turkmen woman of Iranian lineage who was the wife of a Dubai business partner; the alluring, “Miss Kazakhstan”-level appearance of a Uyghur woman married to the head of one of our business partners in Almaty; and the flawless beauty of another business partner’s wife who had actually been Miss Kazakhstan. Their appeal, an intriguing blend of East and West, would instantly command the attention of everyone in the room. In Kazakhstan, I encountered a particularly large number of beautiful Uyghur women.
Yet among all those experiences, Belarus remains special on an entirely different level. It was the one country where, not merely at exclusive upper-class receptions, beauty pageants, or fashion shows, but even on ordinary streets, one could most easily encounter women whose beauty inspired admiration.
The translucent white skin characteristic of East Slavs, eyes reminiscent of clear lakes, and sculpted facial features and proportions—the appearance of Belarusian women seemed to go beyond mere physical beauty and approach a kind of artwork created by history and genetics.
So much so that they became targets of international human trafficking. The Belarusian government passed legislation regulating overseas employment and modeling activities in an effort to protect people from trafficking schemes disguised as overseas modeling agency recruitment or study-abroad opportunities. This has sometimes been referred to as the so-called “Belarusian beauty protection law.”
Beauty does not simply mean visible glamour. It also carries within it the culture and sentiments of a country, as well as a certain grace that lends refinement to the setting in which people meet.
The elegant smiles of business partners’ wives at dinners after grueling negotiations, the intelligent women who filled Vienna’s summer nights, and the dreamlike spectacle created by hundreds of beautiful women beneath the dazzling lights of Moscow’s Night Flight—along with the radiant presence of Belarusian women remembered over a glass of whisky.
Even after all these years, whenever I think back on the night skies of Eastern Europe, that extraordinary beauty I witnessed firsthand remains a distant yet remarkably vivid memory.
jinannkim@gmail.com
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* This article has been translated by ChatGPT.